The chorus calling for common-sense policy change on nicotine pouches just got louder.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is now lending her voice to the cause.

JAY GOLDBERG: Smith joins call for common-sense nicotine pouch policy Back to video

In a letter co-authored with Dale Nally, Alberta’s red-tape reduction minister, Smith is calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to undo a Trudeau-era ministerial order that forced nicotine pouches out of gas stations and convenience stores and restricted their sale to pharmacies.

Easier to access cigarettes

Smith asks Carney precisely the right question: why is it now easier to access cigarettes in Canada than it is to access a smoking alternative that is proven to be less harmful to Canadians’ health?

As Smith argues, “restricting access to nicotine pouches creates barriers for adults who are actively trying to reduce or quit their nicotine consumption. When a regulated alternative is more difficult to access than cigarettes, it sends the wrong signal and complicates efforts by adults working to lessen their dependence.” Nicotine pouches are 99% less harmful than cigarettes, according to the German Federal Institute of Risk Assessment. So why is it easier to buy a pack of smokes than it is a container of nicotine pouches?

By making nicotine pouches harder to access than cigarettes, the federal government is making it harder to quit smoking. That, in turn, is making Canadians less healthy, not more so.

It’s important to remember it’s combustible tobacco, and not nicotine, that is having such a detrimental impact on Canadians’ health. If there are consumers out there who want to purchase a product with nicotine, like pouches, instead of buying cigarettes, the federal government should consider that a win for public health.

Beyond driving more people to buy cigarettes, forcing nicotine pouches into pharmacies creates another major issue Smith was quick to point out: the growth of an “illicit and unregulated market.” As Smith notes, “unregulated nicotine pouches are now widely available online and through unauthorized sellers operating with limited oversight, no product standards and no reliable age verification controls.”

When the Trudeau government put its 2024 ministerial order in place, former health minister Mark Holland tried to argue doing so was necessary to ensure youth aren’t accessing nicotine pouches. But, as Smith argues in her letter, “the illicit market may increase youth exposure and undercut the work that has been done by provinces to limit and reduce youth nicotine use.”

The black market makes it easier for youth to access nicotine pouches. Evidence shows the way to curb the black market is to make products like nicotine pouches easy to access legally, in a responsible, age-gated, and regulated way. By making nicotine pouches harder to access, the federal Liberals have encouraged the growth of the illicit market.

Can gas stations and convenience stores be trusted to responsibly sell nicotine pouches? They already sell cigarettes and vapes. And recent evidence shows these outlets had a 97% compliance rates with the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act (TVPA).

So, the short answer is an emphatic yes. Canada’s smoking rate is still above 10%, while Sweden, a country where use of nicotine pouches as an alternative to smoking has been strongly encouraged, has a smoking rate closer to 5%.

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If federal policymakers genuinely want to get smoking rates down in this country, it’s time to embrace harm reduction strategies.

And that includes bringing nicotine pouches back to gas stations and convenience stores by undoing the Trudeau government’s damaging ministerial order.

Jay Goldberg is the Canadian Affairs Manager for the Consumer Choice Center

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